New Plan for Cincinnati Oriented Around A Multi-Centered City

Three years in the making, approval nears for Plan Cincinnati - the city's first comprehensive plan to be completed in the last 32 years. Randy A. Simes shares the details of the plan, which focuses growth around 40 walkable neighborhood centers.

1 minute read

August 30, 2012, 2:00 PM PDT

By Jonathan Nettler @nettsj


Cincinnati holds a distinguished place in the history of the planning profession, as the first major American city to officially endorse a comprehensive plan (1925). With the completion of Plan Cincinnati, which will be presented to the city's the Planning Commission today, the city's planning department hopes to capitalize on the comeback led by Mayor Mark Mallory to refocus Cincinnati on a comprehensive vision for the city, after a contentious period of squabbling between developers and officials. 

According to Simes, "The renewed focus on urbanism in the Plan Cincinnati
document establishes 11 goals that range from growing the city's
population, to becoming more aggressive with economic development, to
developing a culture of health. One of the key goals set out by Plan
Cincinnati calls on leadership to build on the city's existing assets.
To that end, the plan identified 40 Neighborhood Centers that should
serve as the diverse, walkable centers of activity throughout the city."

"City planners acknowledge, however, that building upon existing assets
will not be enough in order to create the envisioned outcomes identified
within PLAN Cincinnati. As a result, the document identifies 14
preliminary opportunities (see second map) for future mixed-use
development that can eventually serve as new neighborhood centers where
they are currently lacking."

Thursday, August 30, 2012 in UrbanCincy

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